Semper Fi
by chapion-of-apollo
Summary: Percy looses everything and decides to make a new life. His entire life has focused around war and he's given up all pretenses that he'd be able to function fine in normal society. He creates new bonds with better people and joins the world's finest fighting force.
1. Yellow Footprints

_**A/N Hello, all! Consider this a/n a warning. This story will have heavy gore, it's a war based story after all. Some of the details might not be perfect, especially in a combat zone. I'll make it realistic as possible, with a hint of the divine. If I make a mistake, please let me know!**_

_**3rd PoV**_

I looked out the window of the bus, on my way to MCRT, or more commonly known as basic training or boot camp, thinking about how I got here.

_**Flashback**_

It all started when I caught Jason and Annabeth kissing at Zeus's fist. I immediately broke things off and left her in the woods, crying. Jason and Annabeth started rumors around camp that I was cheating on Annabeth with Piper, who I barely talked to because of our differences in personality and interests. After I came out of Tartarus, I was much different. I was quieter and I laughed less often. I knew I wasn't as open anymore and I spent most of my time training.

Slowly but surely, I started getting dirty looks from most everyone as they bought into Annabeth and Jason's lies. After the wars the only person who I could open up to anymore was Clarisse, my sparring partner. Given we were far from close, but we were friends.

I had spoken with Ares after the war, because the gods decided I needed to be able to talk to someone about the horrors of Tartarus and who better than the god of war and destruction? Well, the answer is Dionysus, but I refuse to talk to him for any longer than absolutely necessary. We talked and came to a mutual respect of each other. We looked passed our grudge, sharing stories and just talking about our experiences. Something I found out is that Ares leads PTSD Veteran groups all around the world, helping people cope with the traumas of war.

I had enough of camp after close to six months of dealing with everyone. What was the final straw was when even Chiron wouldn't talk to me with anything but commands and one word responses. I packed my bags and headed out of camp, where Clarisse stopped me until she could go back to her cabin and get a backpack and join me.

Her reasoning being, "Your stupid ass would get yourself killed within the first week."

I laughed and we left and headed to my parents house to get our shit together and decide what to do next. We arrived and were stopped by a police tape surrounding the apartment building. After tracking down the nearest police officer, it turns out the entire building was destroyed by a brick of C4 attached to one of the main supports. This was connected to close to twenty other locations were military officials also lived. It's currently believed to be a terrorist attack by Isis. We stumbled and ran off, before coming to a stop and Clarisse and I decided on what to do next.

We immediately headed to the recruiter's office and talked to a Marine recruiter. A quick prayer to Ares and we were fast tracked to MEPs that afternoon and spent the night in a military hotel. The next day we took our physicals and swore our oaths. That night we went back to the hotel and went to bed. The next day we were on a plane headed to Hilton Head airport, before we got on the Marine Corps bus to Parris Island.

_**Flashback end**_

The bus came to a stop, and as the adrenaline started pumping I looked over at Clarisse and we nodded to each other, an unsaid _"Let's do this"_. The bus door opened and a Drill Instructor made his way up the stairs of the old bus, and boy oh boy, he was one hell of a sight. He wasn't tall, 5'10, but he was built like a brick house, bulging muscles and every movement was measured. He screamed discipline. Everyone sat up a bit straighter and he started to speak, his voice froggy from screaming so much.

He started off yelling, "Sit up straight and look at me right now. Respond with aye aye sir."

Everyone responded in offset unison. "Aye aye sir."

He glared harder and yelled louder. "I said Respond!"

We screamed louder, "Aye aye sir!"

"Louder!"

"Aye aye sir!"

"You're a future Marine, you better act like it. I'm Gunnery Sergeant Vargas, welcome to the USMCRD Parris Island. You are now aboard Marine Corps Recruiting Depot of Parris Island. From this point forward, the only words out of your mouths will be yes sir, no sir, and aye aye sir, do you understand?"

"Yes sir!"

"I said do you understand?"

"Yes sir!"

"When you are responding to a female, you will respond with ma'am or no ma'am, do you understand?"

"Yes sir!"

"The words I, me, or my, will not be in your vocabulary, do you understand?"

"Yes sir!"

"You will refer to yourself as 'this recruit', do you understand?"

"Yes sir!"

He screamed at the top of his lungs, "Then get the hell off my bus!"

We ran out of the bus onto our first steps as a Marine, on the yellow footprints.

_**Timeskip**_

I finished the PFT, doing 30 pull ups in 3 minutes, 117 crunches in 3 minutes, and a 17:02 three mile run. I finished the run and collapsed once I was off the track. A drill instructor approached me and I shakily got to my feet and stood at parade rest.

He looked at the clipboard he held and spoke. "You just scored higher than one hundred percent in each PFT category, do you understand?"

"Yes sir!"

"You know this means you're in the top 1% of all Marines, physically?"

"Yes sir!"

He looked at me for a second before nodding slowly. "Drink, recruit. Stay here."

"Aye aye, sir!"

He left and I started stretching out and getting water. When he came back, everyone was finished with the run. He handed me a seven foot long wood pole with a red flag at the top with the number 1035 sown in gold.

"Recruit Jackson here, just scored over 100% on the PFT and will be your guide. He will be your in-charge recruit. If I am not there, defer to him. If you have a problem with it, solve it with him. If it goes beyond him, let me know. If I think it's stupid, I'll smoke the shit out of you and send you crawling to bed, do you understand?"

"Yes sir!"

He handed me the guidon and spoke to me. "Other platoons will try to steal the guidon. If you lose this guidon, I'll tear you a second asshole. If the flag touches the ground for any reason, I'll tear you a third. Do you understand?"

"Yes sir!"

"After showers, stand at the end of your rack. I'll be taking you to teach you guidon basics, do you understand?"

"Yes sir!"

"Good, now fuck off."

"Aye aye, sir!"

_**Timeskip**_

I had just finished the O-course with the platoon guidon and was screaming encouragement at others, as was my job as recruit platoon guide. I carried that guidon like it was my child and treated it as such. If that flag touched the ground, my nose would too, with at least a hundred pushups if the drill instructor was in a good mood.

I planted the guidon and screamed, "Semper Fi, Hoorah!"

The drill instructor looked at me somewhat shocked. "Good job, recruit. That was the record for obstacle course. You will see me at twelve chow, do you understand?"

"Yes sir!"

"Good, now fuck off."

"Aye aye, sir!"

_**Timeskip**_

"You just shot a score of three-thirty five, do you understand?"

"Yes sir!"

"That qualifies you as an Expert Marksman, do you understand?"

"Yes sir!"

"With all of your scores, you are in the top .01% of the Marine Corps, do you understand?"

"Yes sir!"

"Because of this, the Sergeant Major and CG will speak with you tomorrow morning, do you understand?"

"Yes sir!"

"If you start walking around like your shit doesn't stink I'll smoke your ass like grass, do you understand?"

"Yes sir!"

"Go away."

"Aye aye, sir!"

_**Timeskip**_

I stood in front of the commanding general's desk at the position of attention. After a few seconds, he told me to sit down.

"It's nice to meet the recruit I've heard so much about personally. I'm Lieutenant Colonel Pattay and this is Sergeant Major DiCosimo. Because of your outstanding performance, we'd like to offer you a chance to change your MOS. at the time of contract, you said 'give me whatever can get me there fastest.' Right now, you're an accountant, stationed in San Diego, processing recruits."

He saw my look of indignation and smiled. "What I'd like to offer, is to become a 0372, or a Critical Skills Operator. Better known as the Raiders. The most elite of the Marines."

I thought for a second. "Under one conditon, sir."

He cocked an eyebrow. "And what condition is that?"

"I would like the opportunity to be provided to recruit LaRue."

"He went through his files until he found her, "She's a female. The 0372 isn't available to women yet."

"I'm aware, sir. I know how many exceptions the military can make if they want someone bad enough. I'm not asking for a bonus or anything but to give her the chance, sir."

He looked at me for a while before leaning back in his chair. "Why do you want her so badly?"

"She's my best friend. Well, my only friend from before the Marine Corps, sir."

"How is that? An athletic and good man such as yourself has to have made some friends."

"Fights and disrespect drove most of them away. She's my family, sir."

"What do you mean?"

"We enlisted at the same time. She was living with my family and I after her father kicked her out of the house because she wanted to enlist in the marines. We were at a gym on a Saturday and my parents and baby sister were home. I just so happened to live in the same apartment building as a General at the pentagon."

A look of realization crossed his face. "During the terrorist attack that blew up 21 buildings, all of which were locations were Generals were known to live."

I nodded, "None of my family survived. I don't have any extended family members and my birth father disappeared after I was born, so I don't even know if he's alive."

They were silent for a while and Sergeant Major spoke, somewhat softly. "I don't think we'd have too much trouble waiving recruit LaRue's gender. What do you think, sir?"

He nodded, "That can be arranged."

He picked up his desk phone and called his secretary. "Melinda? Yeah, will you get Recruit LaRue, Clarisse to my office please?"

A few minutes later, Clarisse showed up in the office. She was told to sit and gave me a smile. He explained to her what was going on, leaving Clarisse in a shocked silence.

Clarisse spoke, "Do you mind if we talk about this in private for a moment?"

He nodded and Clarisse and I stood and left the office. Outside the office, she pulled me into a hug, which I reciprocated after getting over my shock.

She gave me a beaming smile, "Thank you, so much. I know I'm saying yes. What about you?"

I grinned, "I'll follow you anywhere."

We walked back into the office and sat down, the colonel raised an eyebrow and leaned forward, "So, have you come to a decision?"

Clarisse took a deep breath, "Yes sir. I accept."

I grinned, "I accept as well, sir."

He gave a smile and stood, prompting all of us to do the same. He held his hand out and we shook it, which was followed by Sergeant Major. "Congratulations on becoming a part of the best fighting force, of the best fighting force in the world."

We shared pleasantries before being sent back to our platoons. She shot me a grin and I shot her a wink, before running back to the platoon.

_**Linebreak**_

We had just finished basic and our MOSs were being announced.

"Duncan! 0311, infantry."

"Ericson! 0231, intelligence specialist."

"Gabany! 0331, machine gunner."

"Gableman! 0311, infantry assaultman."

"Hoffman! 0341, mortarman."

"Iccarino! 0613, construction wireman."

"Jackson, Andrew! 0811, field artillery cannoneer."

"Jackson, Perseus! 0372, Marine raider."

The list continued and we all packed up to leave. We cleared out of the barracks, hugging everyone and saying our premature goodbyes, incase we wouldn't see each other at graduation. We formed up and marched to the parade field, just like we had been practicing for the last three days. As we marched, I let my mind wander over everything we've done. Meeting our drill instructor, the rifleman's creed, the firing range, The Crucible, the warrior's breakfast, and now graduation.

I snapped back to attention and presented arms, before handing off the guidon to my drill instructor. Everything flew by after that and soon enough, we were released from formation. I had climbed the bleachers and was overlooking the BMT camp. I had joined the most elite fighting force in the world and I was damn proud of it.


	2. Nut up or Shut up

_**A/N: Hello, all! There will be a handful of notes throughout the story to explain the slang I'm using. I'm trying to make this story as militaristically realistic as possible, so I'm using the same slang and acronyms. If you don't want me to explain the terms, feel free to comment.**_

_**Last chapter**_

_We cleared out of the barracks, hugging everyone and saying our premature goodbyes, incase we wouldn't see each other at graduation. We formed up and marched to the parade field, just like we had been practicing for the last three days. As we marched, I let my mind wander over everything we've done. Meeting our drill instructor, the rifleman's creed, the firing range, The Crucible, the warrior's breakfast, and now graduation._

_ I snapped back to attention and presented arms, before handing off the guidon to my drill instructor. Everything flew by after that and soon enough, we were released from formation. I had climbed the bleachers and was overlooking the BMT camp. I had joined the most elite fighting force in the world and I was damn proud of it._

_**Now**_

_**3rd PoV**_

Clarisse looked around and found Percy zoned out in the bleachers. She climbed the bleachers and tapped his shoulder, where he shot her a grin.

"Hey there, Private La Rue."

"Hey yourself, Private Jackson. What's got your attention?"

He sighed, before standing up. "Just thinking about what all we've done and where we're going. We're United States Marines, soldiers in the finest fighting force in the world. I was thinking about what we'll do."

Clarisse smiled as they made their way down the bleachers, "You're thinking? That's new."

He snorted and rolled his eyes, "Like you have room to talk, war girl. You ready for what comes next?"

"I'm always ready, are you?"

"When am I not?"

When they reached the bottom of the bleachers, they headed towards Clarisse's barracks to get her bags before heading to Percy's. They gathered their stuff and saved a spot on the bus to basic infantry school before exploring base. They knew that they'd have an intense journey ahead.

Percy and Clarisse quickly made names for themselves. They were the best of the best, doing the most dangerous missions where they'd go without contact for with any military personnel for months at a time. They had learned how to blend in with the natives when out of uniform. Due to their Greek heritage, they both had heavy tans. With the time they spent overseas, well over eight years, they had become completely fluent in Arabic and Persian. Percy was conversationally fluent in many Kurdish, Hebrew, and Clarisse was conversationally fluent in Hebrew and Dari.

They were the best of the best in everything they did. Percy was a military grade scuba diver, a recipient of the Division Pistol Competition (gold), telling everyone he was the best in his division. He also wore the inter-division pistol competition badge. He wore the Distinguished International shooter badge, Distinguished Marksman badge, Distinguished Pistol Shot badge, and the Marine Corps Pistol Championship badge. He wore more medals than could be spoken of, leading him to be an up and rising legend in the Corps.

Clarisse was just as famous, with her awards being similar. All her awards were for rifles shots instead, since she appeared to have an infinity for long distance firing.

They were almost neck and neck, always earning new awards whenever available. They were very closely matched with Percy being more proficient with pistols and close range rifles, Clarisse was unmatched in long distance. Percy was a great in high intensity situations, such as close range firefights, where Clarisse was always the more patient of the two, which was surprising.

Even though Clarisse was the more patient of the two, Percy had that one thing that always put him ahead. He was a natural born leader. When a situation was FUBAR, he was the one everyone looked to. He could keep a clear head in the midst of battle and was able to change the tide of an entire maneuver in the space of a few minutes. That's why he was a squad leader, a Gunnery Sergeant (Platoon Sergeant), and Clarisse was a Sergeant, his battle buddy and first squad leader.

They had a rather similar daily getup now. Percy always wore his deset CUU bottoms and boots, with his USMC desert print combat shirt. He kept his Desert Eagles in his waistband holsters at all times. One was for mortals, and one was a gift from Ares, firing ever replenishing Celestial Bronze bullets. He kept his pen in his pocket and a KA-Bar knife in his boot, made of a blessed silver and carbon steel alloy. He always kept his rifle, an SCAR-17 on its sling over his shoulder, with an extended magazine. He kept two more mags on him at all times in his left shoulder pocket. Percy found he preferred his hair short now, keeping it in a crew cut. He also started to shave every couple days instead of daily, since he liked having a constant five o'clock shadow.

Clarisse opted to wear her full desert CUU uniform with the sleeves rolled. She had the same knife as Percy, also tucked in her boot. Her gun for Celestial Bronze bullets was different though, hers was a Glock 19, along with her personal, mortal fire handgun. Her rifle was the same as Percy's, just kitted differently. While Percy had a short barrel, iron sights, and a laser pointer for quick firing, Clarisse had an extended muzzle for better accuracy and a cross scope. She kept her hair in a tight bun and wore her patrol cover in base, which is what she was wearing now.

_**Percy PoV**_

I sighed, leaning on my assault pack next to Clarisse, who was also leaning on hers. We were eating our MRE lunches, waiting around for our flight back to the nearest green zone base to fly back stateside.

I was broken out of my musings when Clarisse spoke, "I'll trade you my pound cake for your skittles."

I shrugged and tossed clarisse the pack of skittles and caught the pound cake, which was in all honesty had the density of a brick. Better than a pack of weird, soft skittles at least.

"We ship back stateside tomorrow and we have nothing to do. What do you want to do for now?"

Clarisse shrugged, "I dunno, probably take a nap."

Percy nodded, throwing away his empty food packages. "Good idea. I'm going to the PX, you want anything?"

Clarisse sat up and held her hand out and I pulled her to her feet. "I'll go with you."  
I nodded and we leaned up our packs against the Humvee we were sitting next to and walked towards the only tent with AC, which consisted of a box A/C sitting under a tent wall.

When we got in, I walked over to the Quartermaster, who was sleeping on the floor. I shook him and he jumped, falling out of his cot.

He stood with a grin, "Hey, Gunny, what can I do for ya?" He looked at Clarisse and gave a sly grin, "Hey there, La Rue."

Clarisse rolled her eyes, "Look at me like that again and ill kick your ass. I'll get a small Redbull and a beef jerky."

He sighed and handed it to her. Before she could hand him her card, I spoke up. "Double that and throw in a pack of Marlbro reds."

I slid my card across the counter and Clarisse huffed in annoyance. She had long since gotten passed trying to argue with me about paying. I lit a cigarette and offered one to Clarisse, who took one and lit hers before passing me the lighter. It was getting late now and the sun was setting.

We had made our way over and sat down in our shared tent. Because we were special forces, we didn't bunk with regular troops, usually. We had pitched a small tent next to male tent for some added privacy and no one ever gave us any grief over it.

I stripped out of my gear and clothes till i was left in my birthday suit before I put on a pair of underwear and PT shorts and sat on my cot. I looked over and Clarisse was doing the same. We were long past the point of this being awkward. We had shared such close living accomodations for so long, we didn't care when we stripped. We just had to tell the other person to turn around if we were changing undergarments.

Since we were so close, there was always speculation among the troops about us being in a relationship. We never confirmed this, but we weren't sure either, frankly. We were close, yeah, but we never did anything physical.

I was broke out of my musings by Clarisse laying on her cot and calling my name. "What's got your mind?"

I sighed, before taking another long drag and exhaling into the ceiling, where the smoke was slowly wafted out by the small breeze. "Us."

She leaned up and raised an eyebrow, "What about us?"

I gestured around, "Everything. How we used to hate each other, to becoming friends, to becoming close enough that the troops think were secretly dating. We weren't always friends, but I knew I could always rely on you."

She smiled softly, very unlike the Clarisse most people see. "I wouldn't trade it for anything. You're my best friend, you know that?"

I put out the cigarette and laid down, "And you're mine. Good night, I'll wake you up in the morning."

I could hear the smile in her sleepy voice, "Thanks. Good night, Jackson."

I groaned as I felt Clarisse shake me. "Wake up, Perce."

"I don't wanna."

"If you don't fucking get up, I'll just tell that Desert Queen… what's her name again? Oh, yeah! Private Smith. I'll tell her that you wanted to see her in your tent."

_**(A/N: A Desert Queen is a woman who would be like a 4/10 stateside, but since you're in the middle of the desert and barely see any women, she suddenly seems a lot more desirable.)**_

Private Smith had been trying to get in my pants for the last six months, since she was stationed here. I groaned and sat up, before getting dressed as Clarisse walked outside. I decided against a shirt and joined Clarisse. I lit a cigarette and handed her another. She gave me a nod of thanks and handed me a canteen cup of coffee. We drank in silence, watching the sunrise over the desert as we drank.

Clarisse took a long drag and stood, "You ready to get out of this sandy hellhole?"

I grinned, "Hell yeah, I am. You know what the first thing I'm going to do when we get stateside?"

She finished her coffee, "What are you gonna do, battle?"

"I'm going to go to that bar that we went to on your twenty first birthday and get shitfaced drunk."

We walked into the tent and started packing our rucks again, getting ready to head home. "Sounds like a solid plan, I think I'll join you. You do remember that we have a ceremony when we get back, right? So your shitfaced happy time is gonna have to wait a minute.

I tossed her bra to her and she blushed, "I better not have to wait that long, six."

By this point we were taking down the small tent, "You better wait for me, battle. I'm not getting shitfaced with all those annoying ass horny POGs back in green."

_**(A/N: POG means 'Personnel above a grunt'. This is used as a fun loving insult by infantry and active combat soldiers. 'Back in green' refers to the zones. Red zones are active combat, that's a war zone. Yellow zones are overseas posts in previously hostile nations. Green zones are for all bases in the U.S. and bases in long term allied countries. A battle is slang for battle buddy. Your 'six', is your battle buddy. Someone who you'd trust to cover your back/six in a firefight.)**_

I wiggled my eyebrows, "What? Would you rather get drunk with me? Who knows what might happen, six. I make no promises."

She gave me a sly grin as we walked to the communal area, waiting for our transport to get ready to go. "You can't be that special, nothing I couldn't handle."

I lowered my voice an octave, "Don't be so sure about that, La Rue. I'm a hell of a lot to handle."

I dropped my ruck and sat down, leaning against it. She dropped her ruck and sat in between my legs, leaning on my chest. "I'm a big girl."

My breath hitched but I persevered, "Don't bite off more than you can chew."

She laughed and moved, "I can bite a lot, and swallow it."

I blushed a deep red and stutter before raising my hands, "Damnit, fine. You win this time. Don't worry, I'll get you next time."

We got up as we saw the humvee start. She rolled here eyes, "Sure you will. I almost always win."

We had a challenge of making sexual innuendos and whoever can hold out the longest before breaking wins. Clarisse was a nasty little minx and could almost always win, but that didn't mean I stopped trying. We got in the MRAP 6x6 and headed down to the entrance, where the rest of the leaving troops joined us.

My captain sat next to me. "Good morning, sir."

He smiled and we shook hands, "Good morning, Sargeant. You ready to go home?"

I nodded, "Ready as I'll ever be, sir. Any plans once we get back to green?"

He pulled out his wallet and a small picture. "My wife. She was pregnant when we deployed. I just can't wait to see my baby girl. She'll be two now. What about you? Any family?"

I grimaced, "No family. They died before I enlisted. I'm just looking forward to getting absolutely shitfaced."

He gave me a small smile, "Well at least you have something to look forward too. On the bright side, you survived another tour. This is what, your fourth? You're becoming something like a legend."

I looked out the grated window, "I don't want to be a legend, I just want to help those who can't help themselves."

"A worthy goal. I have to say, while you aren't under my direct command, I would have written you for a promotion to within your first week out here."  
"Thanks, I appreciate that."

"No problem, Jackson. We're about half a mile outside of base, when do you fly home? Once we get to base I-"

**BOOM**

My world went white. I heard a dull ringing and screaming when I came to. I sat up, numb. I looked around and saw blurs everywhere. I looked to my left and saw Captain Miller lying there, or what was left of him. He was the top half of a torso with his left arm and his head. The blood was everywhere. I snapped out of it when A bullet hit my kevlar pads, launching me onto the ground. I hit the prone, pulling my rifle out. I provided cover fire and ran to the group on the side of the road in a ditch, firing back at the enemy position. I immediately started screaming orders.

"Clarisse! Take the remains down the East alley, there's our undercover agent's radio equipment in the herb garden. Take everyone with you and form a fortified location!"

"I'm not leaving you here, Jackson!"

I took a deep breath as a tear slipped from my eye. I knew this would probably be it, but that's what I signed up for. Time to nut up or shut up. "That's an order, Sergeant! If you can't take it, I'll give the command to someone else!"

She Glared at me for a second before nodding quickly and rallying the remains. I ducked under the remains of the truck and returned fire, giving enough cover for the squad to make it into the alley. While this was good, they needed to get another four hundred yards before making it all the way there. I had to stall them here and I knew that. I grit my teeth and reloaded, taking down another four taliban. I knew I was on borrowed time at this point, when I saw a squad run into a solid mud brick hut. There weren't any windows and I knew they were stationing something. I had to act quick.

I grabbed the grenade on my chest and tore it off before bum-rushing the covered door. I knew whatever was on the other side of that door could be my end. I popped the pin and tore the door open, revealing shocked terrorists. I threw the grenade inside and slammed the door shut, holding it in place with my leg as the terrorists screamed and banged on the door. My mind went over what I saw when I closed the door. _C4_. Their goal wasn't to get a small foothold, they were setting up a bomb.

_Oh shit._

**BOOM**


	3. Aftermath part 1

**Guest: This is the best, I'm shipping out to basic in a couple months and I absolutely love this story. You wrote well with good grammar, please keep updating.**

**Thank you! Let me know when your ship date is and where you're going to basic, I ship in a few months too.**

**Nihal27: I really love your story especially the military plot. Cant wait to read more. Please update soon.**

**Thanks! I've been surrounded by the military since the time I could walk so it's something I'm passionate about. I'll do my best, but I'm juggling a lot at the moment.**

**Alexvsjsn: Great so far.**

**Thank you!**

**GodoftheSeas21: Another great chapter. Can't wait for more.**

**Thank you! I'll try to update as much as I can.**

_**Clarisse PoV**_

"Clarisse! Take the remains down the East alley, there's our undercover agent's radio equipment in the herb garden. Take everyone with you and form a fortified location!"

My eyes widened. What the fuck does he think he's doing? "I'm not leaving you here, Jackson!"

I watched him take a shuddering breath and what looked like a tear on his cheek. "That was an order, Sergeant. If you won't follow orders, I'll be forced to give you a field demotion and give someone else command!"

I glared at him, trying to make him relent, but I knew it was fruitless. When he set his mind to something, dammit it was going to get done. I nodded, not trusting myself to speak.

I spun around and screamed, "I want a guarded line through the wreck. We're going to that exterior building. We're going to emergency compound zero nine six. Let's go!"

I ran, leading the platoon as we snuck through the alleys, trying to get away from the wreckage. We got to the compound Percy sent us to, that asshole. I ran to the radio set up that Percy had told us about.

"Martinez! Get over here, now!"

A short man ran at her, he couldn't have been taller than 5'6 with "Yes Sarn't!"

"Contact base, we need two humvees and some heavy artillery."

"Yes , Sergeant."

He dropped by the radio and flipped a couple switches and did whatever the hell a radio tech did and he started talking. I was approached by the second squad leader. "La Rue, where's Gunny?"

I felt a tear slip out my eye but didn't say anything. She had the biggest crush on Percy, that was a well known fact by everyone but Percy. She teared up and took a deep breath. "Please answer me."

I stood, "Who do you think gave us cover fire? There was no way we could all be here if he didn't do what he did. He gave us cover fire, keeping them from following us into the alley. In order to do that, though, he had to stay.

She nodded shakily and walked back to her squad.

.Martinez ran up to me, "Two humvees with mounted 50 cals on the way, Sarn't."

I nodded, "Get your ass in gear, we're moving out!"

We spread out through the alley and started running through the confusing wind of the desert town until we were a hundred yards from where the truck blew. I heard an explosion then a scream. I knew that voice. Percy.

We ran around the corner and saw that the Humvees had beat us to the location. I saw a Corpsman standing over a body in the center of the square. There was blood _everywhere_. I ran up as he finished a tourniquet and started to pick him up. I heard the mumbled and I knew who it was. Percy.

"Are they alive?"

He fumbled around and grabbed the Corpsman's hand, smearing his arm with blood. "Are they alive?"

He nodded, "Yes, they are."  
Percy nodded and his arm went slack.

I rushed and helped the medic hold him, "Will he be alright?"

He shrugged, "Not a clue, I just know that we need to get him to base immediately. I'm keeping him under on Morphine so his heart rate doesn't spike too much. We need to stem the bleeding."

We pulled him into the bed of a Humvee and I dumped my canteen over his body, watching the bleeding slow a bit. We were so far out of the reach of Poseidon out in the middle of the desert that the water wasn't worth much more than healing a paper cut. Luckily, it also worked to calm him down in his medically induced coma.

I held onto his hand, still in shock. Percy was invincible, he couldn't be hurt. He was supposed to always be there. _Always_.

We reached the camp and the medic pulled me off him. I watched him get loaded on a plane with his designated Corpsmen as I walked on, numb. The Corpsman ran out of morphine during the flight, not taking his metabolism. He started to wake on transport and he called out to the nearest private to pull the emergency first aid kit. His heart rate sped before slowing down dramatically as he fell back asleep.

As soon as we landed, I went directly into my commanders office and took the next thirty days of leave. I rented a hotel on base by Brooke Army Medical Center. Fuck, I need this asshole to wake up.

_**Percy PoV**_

**BOOM**

I knew nothing other than that I went flying. My vision was going in and out and I saw the familiar outline of people swarming around me. I felt a dull pain that was worse than anything I had ever felt before. I felt a hand grab me by the shirt and pick me up, only making the pain worse.

"Are they alive?"

"We're getting you out of here, Gunny."

I gripped the arm carrying me, "Are they alive?"

"Yes Gunny."

I blacked out.

I woke up again, this time with medics around me. Someone yelled, "He's awake! Give him another shot of Morphine, his heart rate is rising."

Before anything else happened, everything went dark again.

I woke up for the third time, in a bed. This was new, I hadn't seen a bed in months. When I cracked my eyes, I groaned at the light. I heard a startled gasp and slowly turned my head to the left.

A nurse was standing there, looking relieved. "You're awake, how are you feeling?"

I blearily looked around and rubbed my eyes with my very tired arm. "Where am I?"

She busied herself with something at the computer next to me, "Brooke Army Medical Center, San Antonio."

I sat up, shocked, but fell back almost immediately. She rushed over and slowed me down, "Be careful, Sergeant. You're not in any shape to be making quick movements."

I started hyperventilating. "Where? Where is it? Where's my leg? What happened?"

She brought over the tray of food she had set up, " You've been in a medically induced coma for the last month, trying to save as much of your leg as possible. We used your body cam footage to figure it out. When you placed your leg in front of the door the door was blown off, the force of the blow blew off about two thirds of your right leg off. We luckily were able to save your hip, so you should retain some of your mobility. I'm sorry, we couldn't do anything more."

My breathing started to accelerate, and I started shaking.

The nurse came to calm me before slamming a button next to me. I faintly heard her call out, "I need two nurses. I have a patient going into shock in the blast ward, room 31."  
That's the last thing I heard when my vision faded out.

I woke up again, this time adjusting to the light faster. I was alone in the room and the memories of my last burst of consciousness came back to me. I shakily moved the blanket that was covering me and my breath caught. My right leg, the one that was holding the door, was almost completely gone. The top half of my thigh was wrapped in gauze, covering the stump. I leaned back and flexed my hip, raising my leg, letting out a shaky breath. I moved myself sideways so my leg was hanging off the bed and looked out the window.

Underneath me was a concrete parking lot, surrounded by grass, trees, and flowers. Flowers… It had been a long time since I'd seen one of those. I gingerly turned the other way so I was facing the room. I looked along the side of the bed until I found the red button. I clicked it and shortly after a nurse came in.

She smiled at me and got to work on the computer that was set up by my bed, "Hello, Gunnery Sergeant Jackson. I'm Staff Sergeant Warner, but please call me Jackie. It's good to see you awake. How are you feeling?"

I spoke, "Water, please."

She nodded and handed me a bottle and gave me a moment to drink before I continued, "I… I feel okay. I have a question, though."

"I'll do my best to help you."

"Did anyone else die? Get injured?"

She smiled softly, before taking the IV drip out of my arm and the heart rate monitor off, "Not as far as I know. We haven't had any other admittees from your platoon."

I let out a ragged breath, "Thank you. Can you help me up?"

She nodded and she grabbed a pair of crutches off the floor under my bed, before getting on my weak side as I pushed myself from my bed. She steadied me and helped me adjust the crutches and helped me walk to the bathroom. When I left the bathroom, she laid me back on my bed and I ate a meal that was passed around. Chicken pot pie with green beans. The first solid food, not out of a bag, for the first time in a year and a half.

Another nurse came in and told her something before disappearing into the hallway. "It seems, Percy, that you have visitors. Would you like to see them?"

I nodded hesitantly, "Yes please."

She gave me a smile and disappeared, "I'll leave you alone."

"Thank you."

A few seconds later, the door burst open at a frightening speed, leaving Clarisse standing in the door, staring at me with wide eyes.

"Percy!"

She flew across the room and pulled me into a tight hug. I hugged back and after a few moments, she started shaking and hitting me in the chest softly.

I gripped her tighter and spoke, "What's wrong?"

She let out a sob, "You- you absolute fucking idiot! You could've died and what, I'm supposed to be here alone after that?"

I let out a shaky breath, a few tears falling down my cheeks as I embraced her and finally let my emotions take over, "I knew what I was doing Clarisse and I did what I did for a reason. You know my fatal flaw, I could never lose you. Everyone there were my brothers and sisters in arms and I wasn't about to sacrifice half of them, because half of them probably would've died, when I could make sure they get to go home to their families."

She mumbled something into my chest, "Please speak up Claire, I can't hear you."

She said it louder, "You're a fucking empty brass, you know that?"

I chuckled, "You don't have much room to talk, war girl."

She pulled back, "I can't lose you again, Percy. I need to get something off my chest. I-I like you. Like, in a relationship sort of way."

I grabbed her hand, "Thank Chesty, my feelings are reciprocated. I didn't want to step up and get shut down."

I sat up, so I was sitting on the edge of the bed. "Hey, Clarisse? Will you be my girlfriend?"

She rolled her eyes and pulled me into another hug, "Of course I will."

She pulled back from the hug before planting a small, quick kiss on my lips. I sat there in shock, trying to reboot my brain and Clarisse laughed, snapping me out of it before walking to the door.

"While you were unconscious, we got all the measurements for your leg. Your news got out to the media and you're kind of a hero now. A company got in contact with me and custom made a leg for you. Do you want to see them?"

I smiled and made a move to get up and grabbed the crutches next to my bed before Clarisse stopped me. "You're forgetting something important. There's probably going to be news there, and you have nothing but a nightgown?"

I blushed, "Well, what do I have to wear here?"

She dug around in a bag I didn't see earlier and came out with a set of USMC PTs. She helped me change and get up to my crutches as we walked down the hallway. When I rounded the corner to the lobby, I was assaulted by the flash of lights from cameras. A man stepped forward and held his hand out to shake. I took it and he introduced himself.

"It's an honor to meet you, Mr. jackson. I'm Scott Summit, CEO and engineer behind Summit ID. Would you like to take a seat?"

I smiled and slowly lowered myself into a chair, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Summit."

Mr. Summit started to speak again, "When we heard about your endeavours in Afghanistan and Iraq and what you did that led to this scenario. With the consent of Mrs. La Rue, who was your only contact we could find, we got the measurements for you leg. We built you the second ever made, a Transfemoral Monocoque Monoaxial prosthetic."

He turned around and was handed a Steel case that he set on a table that was pulled in front of us. I unclipped the two latches and opened the case. The leg was absolutely beautiful. As I picked it up, Mr. Summit started to speak again, 'The entire leg leg is made of a Tungsten and Titanium alloy, making it unbelievably strong. By Ms. La Rue's request, it was painted matte gunmetal gray."  
The table was pulled away and a nurse came forward and helped me strap the leg on. I used my crutches to stand and stood, before slowly putting pressure on the prosthetic. I tried taking a couple steps and stumbled before catching myself and turning to shake Mr. Summit's hand.

"I'll need time to get used to not having muscle control, but I appreciate what you've done for me. Thank you."

He smiled and took my outstretched hand. "It was my pleasure to help a man who put life and limb on the line for his comrades."

I spent the next month spending everyday learning how to walk again on a flat surface, slowly. I was discharged after climbing a flight of stairs. Something I was unaware of was that walking on uneven surfaces was suddenly a pain in the ass. I had gotten off my crutches and was heading outside the door with Clarisse. She complained since I insisted on carrying my own bag.

"Come on, Percy! Why won't you let me carry it?"

I sighed, getting somewhat peeved, since she's asked this question probably a dozen times. "Just let me carry it, okay?"

"Why can't I?"

"I-I just need to. This is one of the few things I can still do normally, okay? Just let me do it."

Clarisse was silent for a second, "Oh, okay. Sorry."  
We got to the car that was driving us to the airport to take us to our home in Oregon. I smiled as I thought about it, excited to finally be back after so long.

_**Flashback**_

Clarisse and I had needed a place to settle down when we weren't on deployment and for holidays and had decided that we would live together. Neither one of us wanted to go to the city, the hustle and bustle was tiring on our battle frayed nerves, so we talked for a while and decided that if we were going to do it, we would do it the best we could. We knew we wanted the house to be a log cabin, but we didn't want to harm any Dryads in the making of our home. We had sketched what we wanted to do for months before deciding.

We had found a place with a large, emerald green river that cut through the valley in between the mountain ranges. The entire area was heavily wooded and it took us a while before we found a lot for sale that was the appropriate size for what we wanted, which was ten acres in total. It was five acres deep and two acres wide. What we had done was buy in an area where right across the river was protected land so we knew we'd never have to deal with other houses across from us.

Once I had the blueprints ready, I made a long overdue call. I Iris Messaged Thalia and explained what was going on and why we wanted their help. After a thorough tongue lashing, she ran off to get Artemis, who readily agreed, happy to see people trying to preserve natural life. She didn't wait to run across the country, opting to just teleport her hunt to our small camp that we had set up on our property.

"So, Perseus, Clarisse, what is it that you want to build and why did you request my aide in your escapades?"

I bowed and Clarisse did the same. When we rose Clarisse started speaking, "We have already spoken with the Dryads and they're willing to, they just need the blessing of a goddess to move. There are many uninhabited trees around here and many of the Dryads want to move across the river. We want to have a level of privacy when we're out here and the Dryads wanted their own as well. We need your blessing as the goddess of wildlife in order for them to be free from their trees."

She nodded and the trees glowed silver. When the light stopped, the Dryads stepped out of the trees and called their thanks, before disappearing in puffs of green. "What else?"

I pulled out the blueprints and showed them to her, "Our property will be built primarily of wood and we wanted your help to source it responsibly so it won't affect the wildlife too much."

She nodded and snapped her fingers and about forty cedar logs appeared on the side of the small beaten path that we had made. The tree in the area where we were building the house were gone, giving us a clean slate.

"We shall stay to help you and make sure everything stays to our standards. There will be no gasoline machinery, it will be built properly."

After she said that the hunt got to work, grabbing shovels and digging posts and saws to start separating logs. We broke ourselves out of our shock and joined them. Clarisse and I got shovels and got to work.

The work moved quickly, with thirty people working, one of them being a goddess. I used the river water to turn the dirt in the holes to mud and used my powers to pull it out of the ground and into a mound before evaporating the water, leaving a mound of dirt. We filled the posts with concrete and placed out logs. We set an alternating stacking of the logs that we had sanded and stained into a milled finish. It took us about three years to build, since we only had 31 days a year of leave and we wanted to work on it every step of the way.

By the time we finished, it was beautiful. We had laid a long blacktop driveway from the road, surrounded by trees, with the driveway winding through the woods until the driveway opened into a circle. The left side of the driveway was the house, standing two stories high with a two car garage. On the right of the driveway was a large, separated, garage. The garage was taller than a normal garage with the doors being ten feet tall. It was sixteen feet deep and thirty two feet wide. We had an outdoor grilling area on the back porch and a small garden to the left of the house. It was perfect.

_**A/N If you want to see the area I'm describing, PM me, I based this off of a real property**_

_**Flashback end**_

We got to the airport and were escorted to the plane. I got stares and I realized I was in my summer PTs, since they were the most comfortable clothes I had. I had my 3 day assault pack that Clarisse had thought to bring for me. Clarisse was walking next to me, wearing her Woodland MARPAT, since she was my guide.

As we were walking through the airport, we were stopped by an official, "Excuse me, would you be Gunnery Sergeant Jackson and Sergeant La Rue?"

"Yes ma'am, how may I help you?"

She smiled, "Please follow me. You have been invited to speak with a very important man."

I raised an eyebrow and glanced at Clarisse who shrugged. We followed, since we didn't have anything better to do. We got to a set of beautiful oak doors and we walked through and came into a large lounge, overlooking the airport. Sitting there, was Ares.

"So you're dating my daughter, huh?"

**Hello, all! If you want to see where the house is, PM me.**


	4. Apology

Hey, all. I don't want to say it, but I'm closing this story. I wanted to make this story as accurate as possible when portraying the military and I just don't have the knowledge of the Marine Corps. I'm in the process of writing an outline to revamp this story based in the Army instead. It will probably last longer that way, since I have more knowledge of it, since I'm enlisting in it. I'm sorry to everyone who was following this story.


End file.
